


Give Me a Sign

by cherrygrace



Series: Adrien August 2020 [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien AUGreste 2020, Adrien Agreste is Not Oblivious, Adrien August, Adrien trys to confess, Day 7: Oblivious, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is Oblivious, Nino is a supportive friend, Reverse Crush Adrienette, adrienette - Freeform, reverse au, reverse crush, unfortunately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25765642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrygrace/pseuds/cherrygrace
Summary: Adrien placed all his trust in Nino so that his feelings were revealed in a clear and private way to Marinette. But things aren’t always that simple smooth.Adrien August Day 7 ― Oblivious
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Adrien August 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858954
Comments: 12
Kudos: 129





	Give Me a Sign

**Author's Note:**

> So, taking (again) a different view on the prompt of the day, I just wrote a story where Adrien isn’t the poor pure soul who is oblivious… but I can’t say the same about our sweet Marinette here. Also I love the chaotic friend energy between Adrien and Nino.  
> Reverse AU (read my post if you’re confused of how this work [https://italoniponic.tumblr.com/post/625525230851522560/reverse-au-so-people-can-understand-my])  
> That’s all! Hope you enjoy!

“And there it goes plan number three hundred and sixty-seven…”

With dismay, Nino threw another piece of paper in the trashcan and Adrien sighed in his chair. Closed in his room, they had been trying for days to plan something effective for the boy to be able to confess for the love of his life: Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Nothing, however, seemed to work or to be easy to do.

Confessions of love are relatively easy, but when you were hopeless like Adrien, it was all too difficult.

It was impossible for him to speak to the girl without taking five minutes to mend the words of the first thing he wanted to say — and generally, it was just a “hi”. So being direct was out of the question. Overly complicated plans didn't work either. When you were intrinsically dependent on something for something to go right, the chances of going wrong were greater.

They both broke their heads in every way for a good idea to come out. No conclusive results yet.

“Can you remind us my weaknesses for a moment?,” the blonde asked.

Nino started to write some things down on the wall’s whiteboard, almost summarizing his friend's character. A simplified and easy way to get them to focus on their goal like they were in a game.

“Buttercup weaknesses: loss of speech ability, loss of motor senses, reduced attack strength, diminishing subtlety, and the Achilles heel: falling on the target as a _free-rated_ anime protagonist. Ally's comments: I don't know if this is good or bad.”

“Of course, it's a bad thing, Nino! I mean, I _shouldn’t_ fall at all… and…” Adrien stood up and studied the whiteboard. “I'm a disaster, aren't I?”

“As your friend and bro, I won’t lie. You’re _horrible_.”

“There has to be a way, dude. Anything.”

“Honestly, I don't think even Misterbug would be able to help you…”

_How ironic_ , the boy rolled his eyes.

Adrien _was_ Misterbug. He faced akumas of the most different difficult levels almost every day, some who came very close to taking his miraculous and others who were one step closer to destroying Paris and the world. He even faced Hawkmoth in that Hero's Day disaster. How could be so complicated to him to declare his feelings for the girl he liked?

True, receiving a rejection would be more painful than a Stoneheart punch. But he couldn't be a coward. He had once rescued Marinette from Evillustrator and survived a free fall from the Montparnasse tower with the help of Lady Noire. Confessing shouldn't be _that_ hard.

Hitting his forehead on the board, Adrien sighed again. Then the trapdoor leading to his room opened and he saw his father's hand leave a bowl of snacks on the floor.

“Dad!,” the man's head soon appeared with the call. “How did you told mom that you liked her?”

“Well, I was very shy at your age so it was difficult. Nathalie told me to be direct and clear. I decided to combine that with my drawing skills and I designed a wedding dress for your mother,” replied Gabriel.

The two boys gaped at him. That was _too direct_.

“Below was an ‘I love you’ written. Simple and easy,” he sighed smiling. “It was the happiest day of my life.”

“Um,” Adrien considered that answer. “Thanks, dad.”

“Thanks for the food, Mr. Agreste!,” thanked Nino taking the bowl.

With the door then closed, the friends looked at each other. There was a sparkle of determination in the blonde's eyes and he went to his bookshelf, pulling out all the poetry notebooks he had written. Nino was surprised by that.

“Are you going to declare yourself by poetry? Dude, have you forgotten about Dark Cupid? You didn't even sign the reply to Marinette's letter!”

“That's why I'm going to choose a really good poem and leave it signed. My dad is right. I need to be simple and straightforward, and using one of my talents will give it a charm,” Adrien replied as he scanned the pages, discarding one after another. “ _If_ I find something decent and worthy.”

“Again, you could hit Marinette's heart with that fencing sword,” suggested his friend, recalling plan number two hundred.

“Again, have you ever been hit by a foil on the chest without protection? It is uncomfortable and in a girl is _weird_!”

“You always hit Kagami with that.”

“Yes, because we both are fencers. And Kagami is not the girl I'm trying to get married in the future!”

Nino stayed quiet. If the boy didn't realize that his fencing friend was in love with him, he wasn't the one going to say it. Even because — when he offered to do so — Kagami threatened to cut his legs with a real katana. And despite his love for radical things, he didn't want to cross the line between his tendons.

“OK! Plan number three hundred and sixty-eight. Confession by poem!”

***

Staring at the envelope in his hands, Adrien looked at Nino and they both swallowed. It had to work. It was nothing spectacular or complicated. It was just delivering the letter with the poem — maybe even running for their lives after that — and waiting for the magic contained in the sincere words in lyrical prose to take effect.

When separating his options, the boy showed them all to Nathalie. He chose the one that made the woman touch her own heart, signaling that those words had been extremely touching even for _her_. Which was good because afterwards Adrien burned the other texts so no one else could more read.

He just needed to get close to Marinette. And _that_ was the other problem.

“Go on,” Nino said and his friend shook his head. “Why not?”

Adrien simply shook his head. Impatient, the DJ pushed him forward and luckily the person who bumped into him was just the one he was trying to find. Marinette smiled gently as the blonde regained his balance, the envelope fluttering in his hand. She looked so charming despite not wearing anything very special.

Swallowing hard, he composed himself. There was no one very close to them in the school yard at lunchtime, which was strangely unusual. Undoubtedly, Nino told the boys about their plan and Kim and Ivan had threatening everyone to not disturb that important moment.

Humiliating but, he needed to think about it in a positive way and take the first step towards his goal. Just as Misterbug met danger.

“Hello, Marinette! Um... from me... here,” Adrien held out the envelope. “A-and-this is a text... poem... that I made... super important... do you know how to read? I mean, it's important for you to read, you know? You. It's for you.”

“Wow, Adrien! I didn't know you’re a writer,” commented the surprised girl for a moment and then smiling with more energy than before. “I would be honored to be able to read. As an artist, I know how difficult it is to show things to anyone. You must trust me a lot then.”

“Yeah, I do. It's s-specially made... _for you_.”

That little detail seemed to get Marinette's attention. The young Agreste watched bravely as she took the envelope, opened it and took the paper. That was when his peripheral vision caught something strange coming towards them. With Misterbug's instincts at their peak, Adrien stood in front of the girl as a shield and received a jet of strawberry smoothie.

Covered from his hair to his shirt by that pink liquid, the boy opened his eyes to see Chloé and Lila staring at him with horrified expressions. He identified the empty glass in the blonde's hand with extreme frustration. _Witches._

“Chloé, what have you done!,” exclaimed the brunette.

“Excuse moi? You who got in my way! Oh, Adrikins, it wasn't meant to hit _you_ … I mean, it wasn't the intention!,” Chloé threw the cup on the floor and approached him.

“Here, leave it to me,” Lila snatched the paper from Marinette's hands and started cleaning the shirt of the boy whose eyes widened in terror.

_The poem!_ Knowing those two as no one, he knew that the chances of it all being an accident were extremely small.

Taking a deep breath, Adrien took the strawberry smoothie out of his eyes, staring at Chloé and Lila as if he could kill them with his bare hands. When he started to move forward, Nino and Marinette grabbed him simultaneously despite being practically dragged forward with the strength the blonde was doing.

“A-adrikins!,” the rich girl whimpered in fright, using the body of a terrified Lila as a shield.

“Get out of my sight,” Adrien said under his breath. “Now.”

The two ran from him and the boy needed a moment to compose himself. The poem he had chosen so carefully, written with devotion and prepared with his heart, rested on the floor, drenched in strawberries and impossible to read. Life no longer made sense to him.

“I'm sorry, Adrien…,” said Marinette holding what was left of his gift: the white envelope with the heart sticker he took from his mom's diary. “Well, at least I'll keep the envelope. The heart is very cute.”

“Sure, okay,” somehow, Nino spoke for him.

They watched her walk up the stairs, keeping the envelope inside her jacket. She seemed too oblivious to even pay attention to the clear meaning of the heart. _Love_. The worst part was that the poem had literally written the words that Adrien meant. _"I love you, Marinette"_. Clear, simple and straightforward. Now those words had the taste and texture of strawberry-covered paper.

“Ok, new plan: you take a brick, write _‘I love you - with love, Adrien Agreste’_ and throw it in Marinette’s face. Impossible for her to not notice,” Nino suggested to try to cheer up the blonde.

Adrien sighed.

“Don't get your hopes up... but, we can leave that on file for later.”

**Author's Note:**

> c'mon anyone get the joke on the synopsis?


End file.
